CII launches digital clinic to support digital adoption amongst MSMEs
The Statesman | 25 September 2025Complementing this initiative, the Innovation Walkthrough, a first-of-its-kind showcase, featured live demonstrations across Business Solutions, Future of Work, and a Cyberattack & Defence Pod, giving participants an immersive view of cutting-edge technologies in action.
At the conference, Swapna Bapat, managing director – India & SAARC, Palo Alto Networks, remarked that India is now the third most cyber-attacked country in the world, with breaches costing enterprises millions of dollars. The evolution of compliance must become the accountability of digital transformation. Ms Bapat added that as Global Capability Centres (GCCs) are projected to contribute nearly 10 per cent, or close to $300 billion, to India’s GDP by 2025, building cyber-resilient enterprises and investing in digital infrastructure will be critical to sustain momentum.
Krishan Ghei, vice president & business head, Tata Communications, remarked that Eastern India is uniquely positioned to embrace the digital opportunity as MSMEs adopt cloudification and start-ups drive new-age innovation. He observed that the conversation has moved beyond digital transformation to digitisation that is responsible and sustainable. “AI is helping us make better decisions, but every disruption must be accompanied by governance, security, and sovereignty,” he cautioned.
Emphasising the importance of expanding beyond metros, Sanjeev Chauhan, vice president – cloud engineering, Oracle, called for greater attention to Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities as the next hubs of digital talent. He said cloud computing and generative AI are already grassroots-level tools for young professionals, and closer collaboration with governments is needed to ensure IT and digital education become an integral part of basic curriculums.
Bringing the deliberations together, Prosenjit Sengupta, chairman, CII ER ICTE sub-committee and Group CDIO, ITC Ltd, stated that India’s digital economy is on track to reach $1 trillion by 2030, with the ICT sector driving GDP growth and employment. He noted that rapid advancements in AI, IoT, cloud computing, and semiconductor design are creating new business models and reshaping industries, while over 1,900 GCCs employing more than 1.7 million people continue to generate significant value.
